[HELP] Stripping Paint off Wheels

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nikberishaj

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Hey guys i had the brilliant idea of spray painting my wheels a few years back with a rattle can, my friend and i did NO prep work except for cleaning the wheels. They actually held up great for about 2 years but i moved to the midwest from california in the fall and winter absolutely demolished my wheel paint, huge chips everywhere. So i decided i want to strip the black paint off. I want to remove the paint by using aircraft paint stripper but i'm afraid it will eat into the original finish. I don't know what jeep uses on the their wheels but if i use paint stripper will it come out normal, like from the factory? The wheels are the stock 2008 jeep patriot 16 inch wheels if that matters. My understanding is that it will strip the factory finish from the wheels, so would i have to prime, paint and clear coat to protect the wheels? I don't want my wheels to rust or oxidize.

Thank you
 
You could always jack your car up and remove one wheel. There is bound to be some overspray onto the interior-back of the rim and try a small test spot there with your stripper?

Typically wheel are uniformly all the same, so if they are powder coated on the front, the back will have some powder coat as well. Same goes for aluminum.
 
Or go to harbor freight and buy a walnut blaster and somewhere to buy crushed walnut shells. I have never used them on rims, but one of my guy's uses it for boats on bottom paint. Also people have used them to remove carbon build up inside engines.

Or pressure washer.
 
First thing I would try (assuming original finish is powder coat factory) is a pressure washer with an"dirt blaster" tip. These can usually be used fairly safely on factory powder coated wheels and will likely easily remove peeling spray paint.

The next thing I would try is some automotive solvent based tar remover - like Tar X. Soake the wheels and use lots of it. This likely won't work, but is 100% safe and worth a shot.

Assuming that doesn't work, most solvents won't damage powder coat. This is a sticky situation - as there is no guarantee unless you try. Paint thinner is what I would try first. Paint thinner is often mineral spirits (safe) with some additional solvents.

The last thing I would try is polishing it off by hand adding some mineral spirits to the polishing pad with the compound / polish. At this point, you are going to spend a lot of time doing this. I can't see it being worth all the time involved. But it's safe and cheap.

In all reality though, I'm guessing there was a reason you rattle can'ed yr wheels. If it was me, I would just pay to have them stripped and refinished. This is going to be a tedious job at best (depending on the intricacies of the wheel). But I realize not everyone has a grand $$$ laying around to do this.

Just my opinion, but I wouldn't try walnut media blasting on a powder coated or painted surface.
 
Are they steel or alum rims? Not that it makes a huge difference. You'll probably end up marring the original finish.
You can try lacquer thinner and rub it with a towel. It's a slow process to remove the top layer you applied.

Aircraft stripper is effective, but a pain since you'll still need to sand some residual paint off and any nooks and crannies are difficult to get smooth before the respray.

If you want the best/long lasting finish you should pull them. Dismount the tires and take them in to be blasted and powder coated.
 
I've attached a picture to show what i'm dealing with. What i want to do is just use the aircraft stripper, sand them down, prime, base coat and clear coat. Will this method protect the wheels from rust or oxidization? I know they wont come out perfect but the car is going to my sister in a few months so i'm not crazy picky about it.
 
Those look like steel wheels. If your not super picky have at it with aircraft stripper, scrapers, wire brushes, steel wool, and sand paper. It's all in the prep, if you can pop the front bead you can get wheel lips pretty well.

Once their all stripped down wipe them down with lacquer thinner, prime with a self etching primer, then go at it with your color of choice. I would clear them too. Duplicolor sells every paint and primer you need. Good luck, I did this before on my old F150, they came out great, it was a fun project.
 
MPBGT said:
Those look like steel wheels. If your not super picky have at it with aircraft stripper, scrapers, wire brushes, steel wool, and sand paper. It's all in the prep, if you can pop the front bead you can get wheel lips pretty well.

Once their all stripped down wipe them down with lacquer thinner, prime with a self etching primer, then go at it with your color of choice. I would clear them too. Duplicolor sells every paint and primer you need. Good luck, I did this before on my old F150, they came out great, it was a fun project.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice, that's exactly what i'm planning on doing. Do yours hold up well? I live in Michgan and the winters get pretty rough, I want it to last a long time? Should i consider plastidipping them before winter to protect them even more?
 
I'm in NW Indiana so the winters can be pretty brutal as well. the last set I did held up great. I did the wheels and had it for about 2 more years before I got rid of it. They were not in terrible shape to begin with so they got sanded, primed, painted with duplicolor wheel paint, but then I cleared them with automotive clear typically used for painting cars so it was heavier duty and had a hardener compared to typical rattle cans which are not as durable.
With your wheels I would personally just take care to prep the wheel lip and that groove it looks like it has where the wheel center meets the barrel. Those are areas where rust seems to start.
I've never personally dipped anything really so I can't comment on that one.
 
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